United States Maritime Service

{{Short description|American government agency}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox government agency | agency_name = United States Maritime Service | nativename = | nativename_a = | nativename_r = | logo = | logo_width = | logo_caption = | seal = US-MaritimeAdministration-Seal.svg | seal_width = 160px | seal_caption = Seal | formed = April 7, 1939 | preceding1 = | dissolved = 1954 (but still active) | headquarters = Washington, D.C. | employees = | budget = | chief1_name = Lucinda Lessley (acting) | chief1_position = Administrator | chief2_name = Rear Admiral Anthony J. "Tony" Ceraolo, USMS<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usmma.edu/about/leadership/superintendent-united-states-merchant-marine-academy-acting|title=Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy (Acting)|date=|access-date=2026-05-14|website=United States Merchant Marine Academy}}</ref> | chief2_position = Superintendent | parent_agency = Department of Transportation | website = {{URL|www.marad.dot.gov}} | footnotes = Since its dissolution in 1954, the service still actively commissions uniformed officers to serve at the U.S Merchant Marine Academy.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=United States Maritime Service – CSUM|url=https://www.csum.edu/office-of-the-commandant/united-states-maritime-service.html|access-date=2022-02-01|website=csum.edu|language=en}}</ref> }} thumb|Flag of the United States Maritime Service. The '''United States Maritime Service''' ('''USMS''') was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 as voluntary training organization<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=U.S. Maritime Service: the Forgotten Service|url=http://www.usmm.org/usms.html|access-date=2022-02-01|website=usmm.org}}</ref> to train individuals to become officers and crew members on merchant ships that form the United States Merchant Marine per {{USC|46|51701}}.<ref name=":0" /> Heavily utilized during World War II, the USMS was largely dissolved in 1954, and its resources were absorbed into other federal departments.<ref name=":1" /> However, while the service is no longer structurally organized, remnants of the service still exist today and the service still actively commissions officers to fill the ranks of the U.S. Navy Strategic Sealift Officer corps<ref>{{Cite web |last=usmma.admin |date=2024-11-13 |title=The Wall Street Journal gets it. Will Congress? |url=https://wearetheusmma.com/the-wall-street-journal-gets-it-will-congress/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=We are the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy}}</ref> and to function as administrators and instructors at the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the state maritime academies.<ref name=":1" />

==Current role== The U.S. Maritime Service falls under the authority of the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 24, 2025 |title=Educating the Maritime Workforce |url=https://www.maritime.dot.gov/maritime-workforce |website=Department of Transportation}}</ref> The Commandant of the United States Maritime Service is the Maritime Administrator,<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 12, 2025 |title=U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Appoints Sang H. Yi as Acting Maritime Administrator |url=https://www.maritime.dot.gov/newsroom/us-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-appoints-sang-h-yi-acting-maritime-administrator |website=Department of Transportation}}</ref> who also serves as the director of the National Shipping Authority and the chairperson of the Maritime Subsidy Board.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marad.dot.gov/about_us_landing_page/administrators_office_home/administrators_office_home.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228035253/http://www.marad.dot.gov/about_us_landing_page/administrators_office_home/administrators_office_home.htm |archive-date=2009-02-28 |title=Office of the Maritime Administrator}}</ref> The Secretary of Transportation may determine the number of individuals in the service, set the rates of pay, prescribe the service's uniform, and create and issue awards for the service (46 U.S. Code § 51701).<ref>{{Cite web |title=46 U.S. Code § 51701 - United States Maritime Service |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/51701 |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |language=en}}</ref> By law, the U.S. Maritime Service's rank structure must be the same as that of the U.S. Coast Guard,<ref name="LAW1">{{USCSub|46|51701|c}}</ref> but uniforms worn are those of the U.S. Navy with distinctive USMS insignia and devices.<ref>{{USCSub|46|51701|b|4}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = 46 USC Subtitle V: Merchant Marine|url = http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title46/subtitle5&edition=prelim|website = uscode.house.gov|access-date = 2015-10-22}}</ref> The U.S. Maritime Service is not part of the structurally organized uniformed services of the United States. The officers in the service cannot claim veteran status or military benefits including retirement (unless earned separately by previous, concurrent, or subsequent military service).<ref name=":2" /> Uniformed officers serving in the U.S. Maritime Service cannot be deployed or assigned to another military service, and thus are not subjected to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Graduates of the state maritime academies Student Incentive Payment Program and graduates of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy are required to report annually to the Maritime Administration to comply with their service obligations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.maritime.dot.gov/education/maritime-academies/maritime-service-compliance-system-mscs|title=Maritime Service Compliance System (MSCS)|access-date=26 September 2019|date=5 November 2018}}</ref>

Superintendents or presidents of the seven maritime academies in the U.S. are frequently commissioned in the U.S. Maritime Service, such as the superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Additionally, some administrators and instructors at the maritime academies may be assigned rank in the Maritime Service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Texas A&M Maritime Academy |url=https://www.tamug.edu/corps/pages/About/About.html |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=www.tamug.edu |language=en}}</ref> Those with U.S. Maritime Service rank indicate that by listing their rank and name, followed by "USMS".

==History== The merchant marine in the United States was in a state of decline in the mid-1930s. At that time, few ships were being built, existing ships were old and inefficient, maritime unions were at war with one another, ship owners were at odds with the unions, and the crews' efficiency and morale were at an ebb. Congress took action to fix the problems in 1936. The Merchant Marine Act, approved on 29 June 1936,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1938-04-01 |title=A Brief History of the American Merchant Marine |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1938/april/brief-history-american-merchant-marine |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=U.S. Naval Institute |language=en}}</ref> created the U.S. Maritime Commission "to further the development and maintenance of an adequate and well balanced American merchant marine, to promote the commerce of the United States, and to aid in the national defense."

The commission realized that a trained merchant marine work force was vital to the national interest. At the request of Congress, the chairman of the Maritime Commission, VADM Emory S. Land worked with ADM Russell R. Waesche, Commandant of the Coast Guard, to formulate a training program for merchant-marine personnel. Called the U.S. ''Maritime Service'', the new training program was inaugurated in 1938. It used a combination of civilian Maritime Commission and uniformed Coast Guard instructors to advance the professional training of merchant mariners.

As with the other military services, the entry of the United States into World War II necessitated the immediate growth of the merchant marine and the Coast Guard. The Maritime Commission spawned the War Shipping Administration in early February 1942.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 26, 2018 |title=A Short History of the Maritime Administration |url=https://www.maritime.dot.gov/outreach/history/short-history-maritime-administration |website=Department of Transportation}}</ref> This new agency received a number of functions considered vital to the war effort, including maritime training. Several weeks after the creation of the new agency, however, the Maritime Service was transferred again to the Coast Guard (on 28 February of that year, under Executive Order 9083;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Executive Order 9083—Redistribution of Maritime Functions {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-9083-redistribution-maritime-functions |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref> the marine safety aspects of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation (BuMIN) were also transferred to the Coast Guard at this time). The transfer allowed the War Shipping Administration to concentrate on organizing American merchant shipping, building new ships, and carrying cargoes where they were needed most.

The Maritime Service was later transferred to another agency, while marine inspection and licensing continued to be Coast Guard missions. The need for administering the merchant marine during wartime was demonstrated during World War I. Commerce warfare, carried on by submarines and merchant raiders, had a disastrous effect on the Allied merchant fleet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maritime Commerce Warfare: The Coercive Response of the Weak? |url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=nwc-review |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=digital-commons.usnwc.edu}}</ref> With the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, U-boats sank ships faster than replacements could be built. The United States intended to meet this crisis with large numbers of mass-produced freighters and transports. When World War II loomed, the Maritime Commission began a crash shipbuilding program utilizing every available resource. The experienced shipyards built complicated vessels, such as warships. New shipyards, which opened almost overnight around the country, generally built less sophisticated ships such as the emergency construction Liberty ships. By 1945 the shipyards had completed more than 2,700 "Liberty" ships<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zimmerman |first=Dwight |title=Henry J. Kaiser and the Liberty Ships |url=https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/henry-j-kaiser-and-the-liberty-ships/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=Defense Media Network |language=en-US}}</ref> and hundreds of Victory ships,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Liberty Ships and Victory Ships, America's Lifeline in War (Teaching with Historic Places) (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/liberty-ships-and-victory-ships-america-s-lifeline-in-war-teaching-with-historic-places.htm |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> tankers and transports.

The official song of the Maritime Service and Merchant Marine is "Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho!".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heave Ho My Lads - Official Song of The U.S. Maritime Service and Song of the Merchant Marine |url=http://www.usmm.org/heaveho.html |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=www.usmm.org}}</ref> It was written by Lieutenant Jack Lawrence (a co-writer of "All or Nothing at All" and English language lyricist of "Beyond the Sea" who ultimately served as the president of ASCAP) while he was assigned as the bandleader of the Sheepshead Bay Maritime Service Training Station in Brooklyn, New York. During his stint in the Maritime Service, Lawrence met his longtime companion, psychologist Walter David Myden.

===Former training centers and schools=== thumb|Maritime Service recruiting poster from WWII. All of these new ships needed trained officers and crews to operate them. The Coast Guard provided much of the advanced training for merchant marine personnel to augment the training of state merchant marine academies. The Maritime Commission requested that the Coast Guard provide training in 1938 when the Maritime Service was created. The Maritime Service established several training centers throughout the United States<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Maritime Service: the Forgotten Service |url=http://www.usmm.org/usms.html |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=www.usmm.org}}</ref>: * Port Hueneme, California (1941–1942) * Avalon, California (1942–1945) * Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York (1942–1954) * Hoffman Island, New York (1938–1945) * Government Island, California (1938–1943) * Gallups Island, Massachusetts (1940–1945) * Huntington, New York

They also established two officers' candidate schools: * Fort Trumbull, Connecticut (1939–1946) * Alameda, California (1943–1954)

Training ships crewed by the Coast Guard included the maritime-commissioned ''American Mariner''. Licensed and unlicensed merchant marine personnel enrolled in the service. The ranks, grades, and ratings for the Maritime Service were based on those of the Coast Guard. Training for experienced personnel<ref>{{Cite web |date=1944 |title=United States Maritime Service information booklet |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-PR32_5300-9a7a85271e576146c89698417797197d/pdf/GOVPUB-PR32_5300-9a7a85271e576146c89698417797197d.pdf |website=www.govinfo.gov}}</ref> lasted three months; while inexperienced personnel trained for six months. Pay was based on the person's highest certified position in merchant service, and new students received cadet wages. American citizens at least 19 years old, with one year of service on American merchant vessels of more than 500 gross tons, were eligible for enrollment. Coast Guard training of merchant mariners was vital to winning the war. Thousands of the sailors who crewed the new American merchant fleet trained under the watchful eyes of the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard only continued the administration of the Maritime Service for ten months after the United States entered the war. Merchant marine training and most aspects of merchant marine activity transferred to the newly created War Shipping Administration on 1 September 1942. The transfer allowed the Coast Guard to take a more active role in the war and concentrated government administration of the merchant marine in one agency. However, just as the transfer removed the merchant marine training role from the Coast Guard, the service assumed the role of licensing seamen and inspecting merchant vessels.

==Uniforms== The United States Maritime Service wears uniforms that resemble the uniforms of officers in the United States Navy, but with different insignia. In place of the star worn on naval line officers' shoulder boards, USMS line officers have a gold anchor and wreath, while other symbols indicated specialized occupations, as in the Navy. The symbols and occupations are as follows<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-17 |title=usms shoulder boards |url=https://ianewatts.org/usms-shoulder-boards/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=Ian Watts |language=en-US}}</ref>: * Anchor – line officer * Caduceus – medical field * Three-bladed propeller – engineering department * Single leaf – ship's supply department * Four lightning bolts – radio operations * Crescent moon – steward department, dealing with cooking and cleaning in the galley. * Cross – Christian chaplain * Two slabs with the Star of David overhead – Jewish chaplain

Another difference is seen in the cap devices worn on the combination cover. For the Navy, the device depicts an eagle perched on top of a shield of stars and stripes with two crossed anchors behind it.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-08-01 |title=usms garrison caps |url=https://ianewatts.org/usms-garrison-caps/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=Ian Watts |language=en-US}}</ref> For the Maritime Service, the device shows an eagle perched on a silver shield of different design bearing a gold anchor. The shield was also circled by a wreath of gold leaves.

USMS WWII Shoulder Boards. Left to right: Commodore, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant, Lieutenant (Junior Grade), Ensign, Chief Warrant Officer, Warrant Officer.|thumb|450px

The USMS also wears a khaki uniform similar to the U.S. Navy's service khakis. The collar devices which denote rank are identical to the U.S. Navy ranks, however the U.S. Maritime Service wears their rank devices on the right collar and wears their collar device for their occupation on the left collar, similar to staff corps officers in the U.S. Navy. Another unique device that is seen worn with the uniform is a breast insignia worn over the front left pocket. This was formerly known as the Navy Reserve Merchant Marine Insignia, and earned by those officers who were also commissioned officers in the United States Naval Reserve. This insignia depicts an eagle behind a shield of stars and stripes with two crossed anchors behind it. At the bottom of the insignia, there is a scroll that reads "U.S.N.R". In 2011, this insignia was changed to the Strategic Sealift Officer Warfare Insignia. It is similar to the previous insignia with the eagle. This insignia has an eagle that is behind two crossed swords, a shield of stars and stripes and an anchor in the front. [[File:Strategic Sealift Officer Warfare (SSOW) Insignia.png|thumb|250x250px|Strategic Sealift Officer Warfare Insignia (SSOWI)]] U.S. Merchant Marine Officers who are U.S. Navy Reserve officers while wearing U.S. Navy, U.S. Merchant Marine or U.S. Maritime Service uniforms are authorized to wear the Strategic Sealift Officer Warfare Insignia (SSOWI).

==Ranks== The ranks of the USMS now match the ranks of the United States Coast Guard but with unique USMS devices.

===Commissioned officer ranks=== The rank insignia of commissioned officers. {| class="wikitable" ! colspan="10" |'''United States Maritime Service Officer Ranks''' |- !Uniformed services pay grade !O-9 !O-8 !O-7 !O-6 !O-5 !O-4 !O-3 !O-2 !O-1 |- | |frameless|172x172px |frameless|172x172px |frameless|172x172px |frameless|171x171px |frameless|171x171px |frameless|171x171px |frameless|171x171px |frameless|171x171px |frameless|171x171px |- | |{{Center|Vice Admiral}} |{{Center|Rear Admiral}} |{{Center|Rear Admiral (Lower Half)}} |{{Center|Captain}} |{{Center|Commander}} |{{Center|Lieutenant Commander}} |{{Center|Lieutenant}} |{{Center|Lieutenant (Junior Grade)}} |{{Center|Ensign}} |} {| class="wikitable" |+ ! colspan="2" |'''United States Maritime Service Flag Officer Flags'''<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 4, 1992 |title=FLAGS OF THE MARITIME ADMINISTRATION |url=https://www.maritime.dot.gov/sites/marad.dot.gov/files/docs/about-us/foia/4791/mao290-002-0.pdf |website=Treasury Department}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=James |date=2023-01-04 |title=CHDS ELP, PELP Alum First Woman Appointed U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent |url=https://www.chds.us/c/nunan-merchant-marine-academy/ |access-date=2025-12-26 |website=Center for Homeland Defense and Security |language=en-US}}</ref> |- |center|150x150px |center|150x150px |- |{{Center|Flag of the Superintendent of the Merchant Marine Academy (Vice Admiral)}} |{{Center|Flag of the Superintendent of the Merchant Marine Academy (Rear Admiral)}} |} {| style="border:1px solid #8888aa; background-color:#f7f8ff; padding:5px; font-size:95%; margin: 0px 12px 12px 0px; text-align:center;" |}

=== Warrant officer ranks=== {| style="border:1px solid #8888aa; background-color:#f7f8ff; padding:5px; font-size:95%; margin: 0px 12px 12px 0px; text-align:center;" {{United States uniformed services pay grades/warrant officer/blank}} | rowspan=2| '''{{flagicon image|United States Maritime Service.jpg}} United States Maritime Service''' | rowspan=2 colspan=2| | colspan=2| 50px | colspan=2| 50px | colspan=2| 50px | colspan=2 rowspan=2| |- style="text-align:center;" | colspan=2| Chief warrant officer 4 | colspan=2| Chief warrant officer 3 | colspan=2| Chief warrant officer 2 |}

===Other ranks=== The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel. {| style="border:1px solid #8888aa; background-color:#f7f8ff; padding:5px; font-size:95%; margin: 0px 12px 12px 0px; text-align:center;" {{United States uniformed services pay grades/enlisted/blank}} |- | rowspan=2| '''{{flagicon image|United States Maritime Service.jpg}} United States Maritime Service''' | colspan=3 rowspan=2| | colspan=3| 50px | colspan=2| 50px | colspan=2| 50px | colspan=6| 50px | colspan=6| 50px | colspan=4| 50px | colspan=10 rowspan=2| |- | colspan=3| Master chief petty officer | colspan=2| Senior chief petty officer | colspan=2| Chief petty officer | colspan=6| Petty officer first class | colspan=6| Petty officer second class | colspan=4| Petty officer third class |}

==References== <references />

==External links== * [http://www.marad.dot.gov Maritime Administration of the US Department of Transportation] * [http://www.usmm.org/usms.html US Maritime Service: The Forgotten Service] * [http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/AmericanMariner1941.asp USCG]

Maritime Administration Category:United States maritime law Category:United States Merchant Marine Maritime Administration Category:Maritime history of the United States